Should U.S. Delivery Rooms Offer Laughing Gas to Pregnant Women?

When American women get ready to give birth, they usually consider two options: getting an epidural or having a "natural birth."

But midwives say a third option could offer something in-between.

Laughing gas, or nitrous oxide (you might know it from the dentist's office), is often used in delivery rooms throughout the rest of the world. It was popular for a short time in the U.S. but pretty much disappeared from delivery rooms.

If you're prego and not afraid of a little help from some drugs, you may be in luck because experts say it's time for a comeback.

Here are a few of the benefits of laughing gas, according to Slate.com:

--It allows laboring women to walk and urinate (?)

--It's comparatively cheap

--It's fast-acting, offering relief in less than a minute (yes, please!)

--It's easily administered by the laboring woman herself, giving a woman more control of the childbirth experience

The downside? A pregnant woman on laughing gas may be "a little woozy and out of it," and the gas doesn't offer the total pain relief granted by an epidural.

Do you think more American delivery rooms should at least offer it as an option?